1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.17.1 perfect: or, upright, or, sincere 2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.17.4 many…: Heb. multitude of nations 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.17.5 Abraham: that is, Father of a great multitude 6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.17.8 wherein…: Heb. of thy sojournings
9¶ And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.17.12 he that is eight…: Heb. a son of eight days 13He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
15¶ And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.17.15 Sarah: that is Princess 16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.17.16 she…: Heb. she shall become nations 17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 22And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23¶ And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. 24And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 27And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
የግዝረት ኪዳን
1አብራም ዕድሜው 99 ዓመት በሆነ ጊዜ፣ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ተገልጦለት እንዲህ አለው፤ “እኔ ኤልሻዳይ17፥1 ሁሉን የሚገዛ ማለት ነው። ነኝ፤ በፊቴ ተመላለስ፤ ነቀፋም አይኑርብህ፤ 2በእኔና በአንተ መካከል የተመሠረተውን ኪዳን አጸናለሁ፤ ዘርህንም እጅግ አበዛለሁ።”
3አብራም በግንባሩ መሬት ላይ ተደፋ፤ እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም) እንዲህ አለው፤ 4“እነሆ፤ የምገባልህ ኪዳን ይህ ነው፤ የብዙ ሕዝቦች አባት ትሆናለህ። 5ከእንግዲህ ወዲያ ስምህ አብራም17፥5 አብራም ማለት የከበረ አባት ማለት ነው። መባሉ ቀርቶ አብርሃም ይሆናል፤ የብዙ ሕዝቦች አባት አድርጌሃለሁና። 6ዘርህን እጅግ አበዛለሁ፤ ብዙ ሕዝብም አደርግሃለሁ፤ ነገሥታትም ከአንተ ይወጣሉ። 7በእኔና በአንተ፣ ከአንተም በኋላ ከዘርህ ጋር ከትውልድ እስከ ትውልድ የዘላለም ኪዳኔን እመሠርታለሁ፤ በዚህም የአንተና ከአንተም በኋላ የዘርህ አምላክ (ኤሎሂም) እሆናለሁ። 8ይህችን አሁን በእንግድነት የምትኖርባትን የከነዓንን ምድር በሙሉ ለአንተና ከአንተም በኋላ ለዘርህ ለዘላለም ርስት አድርጌ እሰጣለሁ፤ አምላካቸውም (ኤሎሂም) እሆናለሁ።”
9ከዚያም እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) አብርሃምን እንዲህ አለው፤ “በአንተም በኩል፣ አንተና ከአንተ በኋላ የሚመጣው ዘርህ ከትውልድ እስከ ትውልድ ኪዳኔን ትጠብቃላችሁ። 10አንተና ከአንተም በኋላ የሚመጣው ዘርህ የምትጠብቁት ኪዳን ይህ ነው፤ በመካከላችሁ ያለ ወንድ ሁሉ ይገረዝ። 11ስለዚህ ሁላችሁም ሸለፈታችሁን ትገረዛላችሁ፤ ይህም በእኔና በእናንተ መካከል ላለው ኪዳን ምልክት ይሆናል። 12የሚመጣውም ትውልድ ሁሉ፣ ማንኛውም ወንድ ልጅ፣ ስምንት ቀን ሲሞላው ይገረዝ፤ እንደዚሁም በቤትህ የተወለደውና ከውጭ በገንዘብ የተገዛ ባዕድ ሁሉ ይገረዝ። 13በቤትህ የተወለደም ሆነ በገንዘብህ የተገዛ ሁሉ መገረዝ አለበት፤ በሥጋችሁ የሚፈጸመው ይህ ኪዳኔ የዘላለም ኪዳን ይሆናል። 14የሥጋ ሸለፈቱን ያልተገረዘ ማንኛውም ወንድ ኪዳኔን በማፍረሱ ከወገኖቹ ይወገድ።”
15እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) አብርሃምን እንዲህ አለው፤ “ሦራን ከእንግዲህ ሦራ ብለህ አትጠራትም፤ ስሟ ከዛሬ ጀምሮ ሣራ ይሁን። 16እኔ እባርካታለሁ ከእርሷም ወንድ ልጅ እሰጥሃለሁ፤ የብዙም ሕዝቦች እናት ትሆን ዘንድ እባርካታለሁ፤ የሕዝቦችም ነገሥታት ከእርሷ ይወጣሉ።”
17አብርሃምም በግንባሩ መሬት ላይ ተደፋ፤ ሣቀና በልቡ፣ “እንዲያው ምንስ ቢሆን የመቶ ዓመት ሽማግሌ የልጅ አባት መሆን ይችላልን? ሣራስ በዘጠና ዓመቷ ልጅ መውለድ ትችላለችን?” አለ። 18አብርሃም እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም)፣ “እስማኤልን ብቻ ባርከህ ባኖርህልኝ” አለው።
19እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም) እንዲህ አለ፤ “ይሁን እሺ፤ ነገር ግን ሚስትህ ሣራ ወንድ ልጅ ትወልድልሃለች፤ ስሙንም ይስሐቅ17፥19 ይስሐቅ ማለት ይሥቃል ማለት ነው። ብለህ ትጠራዋለህ፤ እኔም ከእርሱ በኋላ ለዘሩ ሁሉ የሚሆን የዘላለም ኪዳን ከእርሱ ጋር እገባለሁ። 20ስለ እስማኤልም ቢሆን ልመናህን ሰምቼሃለሁ፤ እርሱንም እባርከዋለሁ፤ ፍሬያማም አደርገዋለሁ፤ እጅግም አበዛዋለሁ፤ የዐሥራ ሁለት አለቆች አባት ይሆናል፤ ታላቅም ሕዝብ አደርገዋለሁ። 21ኪዳኔን ግን የዛሬ ዓመት በዚሁ ጊዜ ሣራ ከምትወልድልህ ልጅ፣ ከይስሐቅ ጋር አደርጋለሁ።” 22እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ከአብርሃም ጋር መነጋገሩን ከፈጸመ በኋላ ወደ ላይ ወጣ።
23በዚያችም ዕለት አብርሃም እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ባዘዘው መሠረት ልጁን እስማኤልን፣ በቤቱ ውስጥ የተወለዱትንና ከውጭ በገንዘቡ የገዛቸውን ወንዶች በሙሉ ገረዛቸው። 24አብርሃም ሲገረዝ ዕድሜው 99 ዓመት ነበር። 25ልጁም እስማኤል ሲገረዝ 13 ዓመቱ ነበር። 26አብርሃምና ልጁ እስማኤል፣ ሁለቱም በዚያኑ ቀን ተገረዙ። 27በአብርሃም ቤት ያሉ ወንዶች ሁሉ፣ በቤቱ የተወለዱትም ሆኑ ከውጭ በገንዘብ የተገዙ ከእርሱ ጋር ተገረዙ።
